Pharrell Williams On Vogue India

Pharrell Williams has been on the cover of Vogue
IndiaApril Issue with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan where
he talked about collaborations and the causes he cares about. Photos by Greg
Swales. I’m convincing Pharrell to run for President.
After all, the ‘woke’ hitmaker is the exact antithesis of
Trump—fashionable, and vocal about climate change and women’s rights. But Pharrell isn’t
interested. “I’m no role model; I’m just an advisor—that’s why as a
producer, I’m able to push people in certain directions to find a uniqueness in
their voice, their intentions and their purpose—that’s my job!”

No_One Ever Really Dies, his last album with N*E*R*D, was
dubbed by critics as an anti-‘happy’, almost verging on protest, record. He may
deny it but it’s also a work that merges his artist and activist self—he
collaborated with artistes like Rihanna and Kendrick
Lamar to put forth songs about gun regulation, immigrants as well
as Trump. Does music then need to come with a message? “It
doesn’t need to but it’s good that it does. I think everything we do should
have some sort of message or intention, or else it’s just wasted energy.”

Pharrell’s always made his intentions clear—with
his music as well as his projects outside. Only last year, the 45-year-old
turned another leaf, becoming DrPharrell, an honorary
title bestowed on him by NYU. He used his commencement speech at
Yankee Stadium to celebrate humanities and address gender equality—“to lift
up our women”, “remove imbalance” and “demand for better
education.”

If you’ve ever heard Pharrell speak, you’ll
know he genuinely champions women—through his music (his 2014 solo, GIRL was
loosely seen as a feminist concept album) and his appearances (on The
Ellen DeGeneres Show, he talked about underrepresentation of female
achievers). He sees gender without boundaries—his first perfume was a unisex
fragrance named Girl, and last year, he made history by becoming the first man
to star in a Chanel bag campaign. “I used to be scared
of saying I’m a feminist because then someone would be like ‘oh then why did
you have these lyrics’, but I am…because I believe in equality,” he
says.